Okay this is all rather confusing, perhaps because the Watchtower itself doesn’t make sense.
I guess you could flip it on its head and say that another way non believers could be treated the same whether they die before Armageddon or not is to reduce drastically the number of people JWs anticipate will be resurrected. That would make it equal, but it’s hardly a reason for JWs to stop worrying about non believing relatives, because it would reduce their chances of surviving all round.
Notsure, can you explain, if the change isn’t that non believers will survive Armageddon comparable to how non believers in general will be resurrected -
Then can you succinctly explain what do you think is the change?
Incidentally, not all millenarian groups anticipate that all wicked people will die at Armageddon. As I understand it, Christadelphians think the judgment will take place during the thousand year reign, not before. Armageddon is a great battle where Jesus establishes his kingdom on earth, it’s not particularly a time of judgement for the wicked. Although people will die in Armageddon, they don’t expect the wicked to be completely destroyed at Armageddon because the judgment comes later during the thousand years. Could Watchtower be moving to that kind of model?